Explorers of Mind
by Kaen Okami
Summary: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon AU. Maka wakes up in a strange world, with no memory - and as a Pokemon! She's found by local Sneasel Soul, and together they join Shinigami's Guild to find answers to Maka's past. But there are more forces at play than either of them realize, and soon they will have to risk their lives to save the Pokemon world from being engulfed in madness. Reverb 2018.
1. Chapter 1

_Coward._

The word echoes through Soul's head with every step he takes away from Shibusen, away from Shinigami's Guild. How much time had he wasted, hanging around the place? Skittering around behind and to the sides of the building like a stray looking for scraps to be thrown out for him, around and around, again and again. How much nerve had he had to scrounge up just to take those final steps towards the door, only to be held back by his own nerves going into overdrive?

How long had he stood there, staring blankly at that unlocked door and hearing the muffled chatter from inside? So warm, so happy...He could be that happy, too, if he just...

 _Coward._

His right paw had moved without his really thinking about it, just inches from the doorknob. But something inside him had been grabbed and held fast by an iron hand, locking him in place. His heart and head had pounded dizzyingly, and his whole body had suddenly been drowned in heat, even after dark in the dead of winter. Paralyzed, trembling from ear-tips to toes, he hadn't been able to move no matter how badly he wanted to. For a moment there, he had forgotten how to even breathe.

 _Coward._

In the end, his nerve had broken. He'd broken, and he'd spun around and bolted away as fast as his legs would carry him. Nearly tripped down the stairs, too, in his hurry. And wasn't that just the story of his life? Turning tail and running away, as soon as there was something that he just couldn't face. No. No, that wasn't true; everything he ran away from he could face head on, if only he weren't such a -

 _Coward._

 _Yeah. That._

The wind cuts right through Soul's thin fur, and it's getting harder by the minute to walk through the wet, thickly piling snow. He hisses through clenched teeth: it will be a miracle if he manages to make a decent fire in all this.

He certainly doesn't _want_ to think back and replay the hours, much less the deciding moment, over and over and over. But as he trudges back through the narrow, winding pathways into the mountains, that seems to be what his stupid traitor brain is determined to do anyway.

As it rewinds and goes again, rewinds and goes again, and again...Is it his imagination, or did he hear the sound of a door unlatching and opening behind him? He had run away so hard and fast, he had surely left paw prints in the loose, flat earth in front of the guild proper. Claw marks, at the very least. Suppose they stayed there untouched all night. What would they think, Shinigami and the rest, when they opened the door in the morning and saw them? If they did. At best, they would think it was nothing of too much importance, and they wouldn't be too far off. At worst, they would deride him as just another dirty scavenger.

Wouldn't be the first time he'd heard that, in any case. Even since before he'd left his pack. Whatever, then. Shibusen was never the place for him anyway, he had no idea _what_ the hell he'd been thinking. No pack. No guild. No place for a failure like him, and no need of one either.

 _No one wants you, no one needs you around, you c -_

"Whoah!"

His first thought, as pain shoots through the instep of his foot and he trips headlong over something big and solid and hidden under all the snow, is that he's missed a step and hit some kind of heavy rock.

Soul lands face-first in a drift, and pushes himself up immediately, spitting out a mouthful of snow. He shakes out his smarting foot, and his lip curls into a snarl. He turns around to see what he had knocked into, heat and frustration surging in his blood...Which cools the instant his eyes fix on the thing in the path: decidedly _not_ a rock.

 _It's...It's a Pokémon,_ he thinks dazedly, his eyes going wide.

He hasn't thought that there was anyone but him hermiting it up on Mount Silver. But here someone is, right there in front of him: a Togetic, half-buried under the snow. Their white surface has already turned pale Pidgey's-egg blue from the cold, and they're shivering like crazy. What in the world are they doing out here, in weather as terrible as this?

(Never mind that he himself was doing the exact same thing, and had done that same thing plenty of times before.)

For a good minute, Soul just stands and stares, this time in shock rather than fear. Then reality smacks him in the back of the head: what's he doing, just _staring?_ Here in front of him is another Pokémon in serious need of some help. And it's not like anyone else is going to happen upon them before...Well. They're lucky they lasted as long as they did, all alone out here.

He supposes there isn't any way around it. If he doesn't help this Togetic out, who will?

Heaving a deep and weary sigh, Soul crosses the short distance between them, and reaches down carefully to pick up the Togetic out of the snow. He's careful, as he lifts them up, to avoid pricking or scratching the sensitive skin with his claws; Arceus knows he's gotten complaints about _those_ before. He settles the Togetic's long neck over one shoulder, trying to let their head rest comfortably there instead of dangling. Shelter from the falling snow, and all that. He hefts their long legs up in his arms, and sets off.

"Jeez...You're sure heavy, aren't you?" he grumbles under his breath. He wonders why, exactly, had he decided to set up temporary shop on the crags of Mount Silver? Giving a strange Pokémon an impromptu piggyback ride, up the steep slope, in the middle of a pitch-black blizzard, is not exactly his ideal way to spend a night.

Under the shrieking of the wind, he hears right next to his ear a soft noise, something like a whimper. Something like relief, he thinks. As if to confirm the thought, the soft, short arms start to cling tighter to his shoulders. He turns narrowed eyes to the Togetic's face: still unconscious, and maybe it's just his imagination, but it seems like they're already starting to look better.

He lets out another sigh, as he slogs through the ice and snow. "Yeah, all right. Don't worry, you're going to be fine. Hang tight, I'll get us both warm soon."

~0~

It takes her a moment to fully register what it is. But it's the scent of burning wood that first catches Maka's attention, tugging her out of...Wow. This feels like the deepest sleep she's ever had.

The only things that have come close are the swelling pull of heavy anesthetic, and the deep exhaustion that permeates her whole body after a long day of training or work. She feels the all-over ache, all right, and there's still a vague sense in her body of being pulled down, in -

 _Wait_ just a minute.

In the half-second before her eyes fly open, she realizes that _this is not her body._ She feels smaller and denser, her head an entirely different shape, something soft and velvety covered suddenly thin skin, which must be why she had felt it so bitingly cold before, and - !

"Hey!"

Her arm knocks into something metallic as she catapults upward, sending it crashing to the ground. Something flies off her: a blanket, she recognizes fleetingly. She means to get up, she really does. Even though her body is so jarringly unfamiliar, it apparently can still send the same fear signals through her system as a normal human body, though there is some tiny part of her that wonders at how her flight reflex seems to be urging her to actually take to the air. But she can only get to a sitting position before the burning ache in her muscles sends her back down again. It's soft, she realizes for the first time. A nest of what looks like two or three field blankets, rough on her skin but still wide and thick, and creating a pocket of warmth around her that she has just punctured.

"Hey, take it easy! You're going to knock into the fire if you keep on flailing around like that. And I'll be really honest here, I don't have any Burn Heals or berries or anything, so I wouldn't know what else to do other than throw some snow on it, so you'd be kind of screwed."

Well, if nothing else, this voice of this boy sounds perfectly normal, and when she automatically retorts, she's relieved to find that hers does too.

"I wasn't going to - "

But that voice stops cold when she turns her newly ellipsoidal head around on its spindly neck, and sees that there was no boy speaking to her at all.

 _It's...a Sneasel?_

It's much skinnier than she is used to seeing (it can't be wild, if they're in this shaky but not at all badly constructed tent, but what kind of Trainer would let their Pokemon's _ribs_ show?!), the bluish-black coat dusty and unkempt, even the trademark claws are scratched and the feathers are...Well, unusual colorings like _that_ are nothing wrong in and of themselves, but they look to be too much on the brittle side. But shockingly, the signs of poor health aren't even what shocks her the most to see.

Those eyes are wide and shocked, but they still glow bright as the flames burning between them, and there is a look in them that she has never seen in any other Pokemon. Before she can say anything, the sharp-toothed mouth moves again, and that same uncertain, low-in-the-throat voice comes out:

"Uh. Well, you don't seem too used to moving around, and you were just frozen anyway. You wanna be careful, especially around here. Speaking of which, how did you end up alone on the mountain, anyway? I've been squatting here for weeks and I never saw any other Pokemon anywhere near here."

"But I'm not a Pokemon!" Maka blurts out. "I...I'm a human!"

The Sneasel looks at her like she's grown three heads (which, to be perfectly honest, wouldn't really surprise her at this point), and actually backs up a little bit.

"Did you...Sorry, but did you hit your head on a rock, too? I mean, I checked to see if you were actually hurt bad and didn't see anything, but it already looks like a smashed egg, so I wasn't sure if that was how it was supposed to look..."

" _Hey!_ It looks just _fine,_ I'm not -"

Maka pauses as the words fully register with her. For the first time, she stops and looks down at her own body. It's creamy white and incredibly smooth, like a living, breathing china figurine, with an impossibly soft coat of down from her neck to her...leg stalks, she supposes. Her arms and legs are not much more than stubs, and there's blue and red triangle patterns on her round belly: a Togetic body, she remembers the name. She experimentally tries to wiggle the little wings she feels poking out of her back, but they don't seem very mobile. She had always wondered, before, how Pokemon like this managed to stay up in the air, without the huge and powerful wings of most Flying types.

Well, she could still hear the blizzard's distant howl outside, so she couldn't try anything out now. But she supposes she can find out later.

The Sneasel is still staring at her, waiting for her to finish. When she looks up and makes eye contact instead, it talks to her as if to something wounded and apt to bite: "So yeah...I've never seen a human before and I don't know anyone who has, but you look a lot more like a Pokemon than a human to me. Are you really hurt that bad, then?"

Maka considers the question. Other than the lingering ache in her...bones? Cartilage? She can't remember what it is Togetic are made of, but whatever it is it doesn't seem to be in too much pain. The blankets and fire have definitely helped, she feels. All that really seems to be wrong is this...This _emptiness_ in her mind, this black void where her memories should be. It gives her the _feeling_ that she used to have a human body: that is, she has the memory of moving and inhabiting it that is just vague and hazy enough that it gives her a chill that's nothing to do with the cold.

"No, I don't think so..." Something else hits her. "Are you the one who helped me?"

The Sneasel abruptly looks down at the flat earth, shuffling its long-clawed feet and refusing to meet her gaze. It mumbles softly, barely moving its mouth, so she has to strain to hear: "Well, yeah...I told you, no one else is around here, so I...You know..."

Maka smiles. "Thank you. However I ended up here, you really helped me out!"

Pokemon like Sneasel don't blush, but she recognizes the twitching of the feathers as being basically the same thing. "Yeah, sure...Don't mention it."

"No, really, I owe you one, S - " He starts oddly at that, and she realizes with an embarrassed jerk in her stomach that if this is a place with no humans, where Pokemon can speak, then...It probably isn't somewhere she can just call Pokemon by their species names. "Sorry...What's your name?"

"Soul. Just Soul."

Definitely not, then. And she should drop the whole 'it' thing too, while she's at it. "And you're a boy?"

Soul startles at that, looking back up at her and rubbing his long head feather indignantly. "Uh, _yeah_ , pretty sure I am. And...you're a girl? I guess?"

"Yeah. My name is Maka." She can remember _that,_ at least. "Where are we?"

"Mount Silver. Right by Shibusen. Sound familiar at all?"

Maka blinks.

"All right, that's a no, then. Do you know where you _are_ from?"

Maka racks her brain for a moment, for a place, a name, a face, anything. But it all comes up blank. She would be lying if she said that the sinking realization that she was flying completely blind didn't make her stomach clench.

"That's a no, too, I'm afraid." She pauses. "I...I'm not sure what to do from here, then. Do you...know of anyone who could help me? Not that you haven't been an amazing help already!"

Soul's ears twitch. "Well...I guess the only one who might be able to help you is Shinigami. He's the Gengar who runs the Guild down in town."

"What do Guilds do?"

"A bunch of stuff, I guess. You train under the Guildmaster to help people and become an explorer, and if you do good then you can graduate and...do whatever it is you want to do with your new skills," Soul explains, scratching the back of his neck. "Apparently it's supposed to be really hard, especially in a first-class Guild like Shibusen. But I always thought explorers were pretty cool, so..."

"Are you part of it?"

"What?! No, I - !" His scratching picks up speed. "I mean, not that I wouldn't want to, I _wanted_ to, but I..." Soul trails off, into a heavy sigh. Suddenly he can't seem to meet Maka's eyes. "I couldn't."

Maka gets the idea that this is a sensitive spot she ought not to press on. But still, this is the only lead she has, so she can't waste any time in taking it. "Well, I'm going to go see what I can find out, even if I have to join this Guild thing to do it. Do you want to come with me?"

Soul flinches. "I...No, I said I can't."

"...Do you mind if I ask why not?"

"I don't mind, it's just..."Soul can't meet her eyes. "They don't need cowards in their ranks, that's all."

"You're no coward."

" _You_ don't know that."

"I think I'm a pretty good judge of character. You said you wanted to go, and..."

She looks over at the tent flap, listens to the rage of the storm outside. Somehow, the idea of what will come in the morning, when she has to leave this little pocket of warmth and safety to venture out into this huge, unfamiliar world, in this completely alien body...It makes her body freeze and her stomach clench even worse than the idea of braving the blizzard again.

"If I'm really being honest here, I don't think I want to go by myself."

Silence hangs in the tent for a moment, broken only by the crackling fire. Soul slumps down, takes the lone blanket he's lying on, and rolls himself into a Sneasel burrito. "I'll show you where it is in the morning."

Maka opens her mouth, then closes it again. She's exhausted too, after all; whatever happens, can happen when it's not pitch black and freezing out. She nestles herself back into her blanket nest. "All right. Good night, Soul."

At first, there's no answer. She closes her eyes, tries to find out what kind of a position is comfortable in this new body. Then, so soft she almost doesn't hear it -

"G'night. Maka."

Maka smiles as she falls back to sleep.

~0~

"Do...Do we r-really have to do this tonight?" The little Mawile shakes from head to toe as they pick their way through the snow. It's wet and heavy and piling up bigger than their whole body, and they're surprised that they're managing to talk as clearly as they are. "I-I-It's so cold, a-and I'm - "

They're cut off by the bony shoulder of the Mightyena stalking up behind them and roughly pushing their head. With his ragged but thick black and silver coat, soaked through with the falling snowflakes, he isn't cold in the slightest.

" _Ow,_ Ragnarok - !"

Ragnarok growls, "Quit your yapping, Crona. No point in wasting time if we're going to get all these done."

Crona whimpers in the back of their throat, but trudges along at Ragnarok's back paws. He growls deeper as he digs their way through the snow, aided immensely by Crona's enormous second set of jaws biting hunks of it away and throwing it to the side. Deeper and deeper they go, until they hit the entrance of the cavern buried at the base of the mountain. Ragnarok grins with every tooth in his long muzzle.

"Here we go."

He lopes down the low-cut stone passageway, as if homing in on an injured Stantler. Crona sprints as fast as they can to keep up with him, but with their much shorter legs, it's no use.

"W-Wait for me! You, you're too fast!"

"Keep up, you're just too slow, pipsqueak!"

The darkness seems to press in on Crona, come right for their lungs, and they can't help it if they start breathing a little faster than is probably normal. The only thing they have to guide them through all the twists and turns is the rapid clicking of Ragnarok's claws. He seems to know where he's going, he always remembers their mother's instructions better than they do. Soon enough, the faint light at the end of the tunnel, the beacon that's supposed to guide them to their goal, comes into their sight.

Ragnarok yips and runs faster, and Crona lets out a yelp in spite of themself, struggling to keep up. The light grows brighter as they go, until finally Ragnarok is bounding up over a flat, smooth ledge and sauntering into the heart of the maze, while Crona has to leap to grab the edge, legs rapidly kicking at the air before they haul themself over.

They suddenly find that they have to squint: the room is _bright,_ too bright, with the aura of the Kishin Seal in the center. But they can't make out the shape of the object itself: it's blocked by the very angry-looking Ditto expanding in front of it.

"I was warned you would come," it says, in its voice like a punctured balloon. "You've already broken two of the Kishin seals...I won't let you have your way!"

Ragnarok lets out his big, booming laugh. His face scrunches up with the force of it, bringing the X-shaped scar between his eyes into sharp relief. "Thanks for the credit, but did you really think that this is some petty shit, that'll end if we die? Not that you'll live to see what we mean, though!"

"R-Ragnarok, don't give it away..." Crona mutters. They shrink back, even as they reflexively reach out with their soul, connecting with their brother's and letting it take over them. "Let's just do it, and go home..."

Ragnarok begins to visibly drool, as his fangs start to shine the way they do before a Crunch. "Don't think I'll save any for you," he snarls. The Ditto is transforming, into something big Pokemon with its own fangs and claws, but it's too slow. And it's not strong, not like they are.

So when Ragnarok charges, barking and roaring and eyes blazing red murder, Crona knows even before the first blood is drawn that the Seal's guardian doesn't stand a chance.


	2. Chapter 2

Maka and Soul both wake up early, as the sunlight streams through the thin towel-and-sheet tent. It turns out that Soul doesn't have very much food: their breakfast consists of berries and trail mix bars and she can't see too much else in his travel bags.

"Are you, uh...on a trip somewhere?" she asks tentatively.

Soul doesn't look at her when he answers, focusing all his attention on packing up his blankets in the biggest bag. "Yeah. Something like that."

"A long way from home, I guess?"

"I guess."

They walk outside the tent, blinking in the light and relative warmth, and Soul points out the path down the mountain. She can just barely make out the roofs of Shibusen, poking out of the snow-topped trees, but she can clearly see the full Guild building on the plateau overlooking it.

"Some parts might be a little messed up because of the snow, but they clear out the path pretty widely once you get to the base of the mountain," Soul explains as they take down the tent together, and tie the components to Soul's bag. "There's no twists and turns or anything. You just keep going straight until you hit town, and then it's pretty obvious how you get to the Guild."

Maka gulps. "Thank you, really. For everything."

"No problem." Soul smiles, and she's startled by it, how the light glints off his shiny teeth and adds sheen to his matted head-feather. It's a smile as bright as the sun itself. "You're going to love it down there, Maka. Shinigami's Guild, it's this cool historic place, there's so many Pokemon that become really rich and _really_ famous because of the awesome things they did, because they trained in this place. Everybody who meets them loves them, it's...It must be really great."

"It must," Maka agrees, stifling a giggle. "You should come with me!"

Soul's smile drops just as quickly as it came, and he looks at her with surprise. "I told you I can't, I - "

"You said the Guild was around to help people, right? Well, you helped me last night when no one did. If you think you need to prove your worth to them, that's more than enough, you know."

He lets out a huff that Maka thinks might have been an attempt at a laugh. "Prove my worth. Huh."

There is a long and heavy pause. Soul won't break the silence, so Maka decides she will. "It seems like you've already decided, but if you ever want to change your mind...The Guild's not going anywhere. And neither am I."

"Yeah, well...I'm sure you'll find whatever you're looking for there, I...I have to go someplace else." Without further ado, he turns on his heel and starts for the path behind them, that will take him out through the mountain range and beyond. "Good luck. I'm sure you'll do great."

Maka swallows a sigh, not wanting to make him feel any worse. "Yeah...Stay safe out there!"

There's no response, and Maka watches until he disappears down the slope before forlornly making her own way down Mount Silver.

It's as Soul said: relatively easy. The slopes are high but not narrow or steep, and though there's snow on the ground there's no ice for her to slip on. It takes some careful footwork and some clambering over rocks and snowdrifts three times her height - it had never fully clicked with her before just how _small_ some Pokemon were - before managing to get to the bottom and into the pine forest. The first half of this leg of the journey proved to be more of the same, blowing a rough path through the snow and fallen branches with move. She figured that as long as she was in this body, she might as well try and see which moves she knew, if any. Some had to be instinctual, right?

It turns out that she can do Magical Leaf pretty easily, but has a fair bit more trouble working up what she's pretty sure is a Fairy Wind. She winces when one comes out a big stronger than expected, and knocks down snow and branches and pine needles to the ground with a great crash. But there doesn't seem to be anybody around to be inconvenienced by it, and it all lands in more snow anyway, so she supposes it's all right. They must teach things like this at the Guild, she reasons as she finally steps onto the cleared path, so she guesses she'll learn more moves and better control when she gets there.

At the thought, it's as if someone's dropped an anvil into Maka's stomach. She must be nearly into the town by now...What is she supposed to _do,_ even if the Guild lets her in? It's a Pokemon-run, humanless society, how is she to know the right way to act? No idea what to do with her new, strange body, no idea how to get to her old home or old body, and no memories of them or of _anything_ in the first place - !

She has to stop dead in her tracks, to swallow a sudden lump in her throat. She has a semblance of a plan, okay, and that's comforting on some level, but...She really does have no clue of where she stands or what her next step ought to be. She's never been the type that couldn't stand on her own, she remembers _that,_ but all the same...It would be very, very nice to maybe have someone to lean on right about now -

"H-Hey! Hey, Maka!"

She does _not_ jump six feet into the air out of fleeting terror, thank you very much. But she will admit to being very surprised to turn around and see a very familiar-looking Sneasel sprinting down the makeshift path towards her, the contents of his bags audibly being bounced around on his back.

" _Soul?"_

He skids to a stop next to her, doubling over and holding his knees as he catches his breath. "I...Uh...I, uh..."

Maka blinks. "Did you...really change your mind?"

"Yeah!" Soul blurts. He lifts his head to look up at her with a sheepish smile. "Yeah, I didn't want to...I mean, uh, I didn't want _you_ to go alone."

Maka takes exactly one second to let that sink in before she is seized by a fit of absolutely _relieved_ laughter. "You know, I didn't want to, either."

Soul laughs along, and she can see some of the tension leaving his body as he straightens up. "Sounds good to me." Maka keeps going, and Soul easily falls into step by her side. "So...Looks like you made it most of the way down pretty good. I saw the marks you left on some of those trees, though."

"Oh, yeah, those." Maka doesn't know how a blush looks on a Togetic's face, but she can feel it heating up. "I'm...not very good with my moves yet. The whole...human thing, I'm not used to it."

"Oh," says Soul in a very different tone, looking thoughtful. "Forgot about that. Well, I...guess it's the kind of thing that should come naturally with your body? That's what my mom and dad tell me. Used to tell me, I mean, when I was little."

"That's about what I was thinking. What kind of stuff do you know?"

"Let's see...I'm not very good, but I know Agility, so that's helpful. Icy Wind: proud of that, not as helpful in weather like this though. Used to know Quick Attack, but I've been trying to train on my own and I think I upped it to a Feint Attack. My Fury Swipes are pretty good, but I _really_ want to try and learn Metal Claw. I know Sneasel who could do that _way_ younger than me, so I'm kinda behind."

"That's okay! Everyone is behind with something. When we get to the Guild, do you think they'll let us train together?"

"Definitely! All the exploration teams do."

"Then let's hurry up and get there!" With a sudden burst of renewed excitement, Maka doubles down and starts hurrying further along the path. "Come on!"

"Hey! Maka! Wait up - Wait, can't you hover? Why are you running?!"

~0~

Maka's attempts to follow Soul's suggestion are only half successful, as she isn't quite sure what to do to stay in the air. But as with her moveset, it seemed to be at least partly instinctual. So she goes the last stretch of the journey alternating between a tense hovering and an awkward, short-legged trot, while Soul jogs along at her side attempting to give pointers.

"Our kind are climbers and scurriers," he says, watching her attempts with considerable surprise and interest. "I don't know anything about flying. Hopefully there'll be another Fairy-type there to help you out there. Speaking of, do you think the human thing is something we should keep on the down-low? I mean, _I_ believe you, but..."

That gives Maka a bit of pause. "Yeah...It is pretty weird, and that's not really the impression I ought to give, right? I think we could just say I lost my memories, and I'm trying to figure out where I came from and how I got here. That's all true, isn't it?"

"That'll work. Good timing, too: we're here."

Maka startles so badly she drops to the ground, feet landing on a flat cobblestone road. She blinks, and looks up at the bustling town of Shibusen, reflexively moving closer to Soul as he leads her over the town limits. Even though talking to him has gotten her over the initial shock, she still can't help but stare as they make their way straight down the main street up to the Guild. Xatu and Kecleon in booths and storefronts, chattering away with their customers, a Marowak leading several Fighting-types in combat forms in the courtyard of a dojo, a fleet of Delibirds with their mail sacks circling in the sky, little Larvitars and Teddiursa running gleefully through the crowd while their parents lumber after them, trying to rein them in. The words _culture shock_ run through her mind, but even that's not quite enough to describe the way she feels, actually seeing this society.

"Don't worry about it," Soul tells her under his breath, noticing her discomfort. "This is a town known for how safe it is. Nobody here's gonna give you trouble."

"Have you ever been here before?"

"Well, no, but...I've got reliable sources, okay?"

Soul seems to know the landmarks here pretty well, pointing out different businesses and their purpose as well as any tour guide. He even calls some of the Pokémon by name, before catching himself and backtracking with an, "At least, I _think_ that's them, I could be wrong."

"So I see," she says after the third or fourth time. "So, will you know who Shinigami is when you see him? Or anyone from the guild?"

"The guild teams, negative. Shinigami? Definitely. _Everyone_ knows who he is. Even if you've never seen him before." Soul stops, and she nearly bumps into him. She hadn't realized it, but they've reached the end of the main road: all that's left to see is the towering plateau on which the guild sits. It's so high up that all Maka can see are the two striped, pointed stone ears (painted deep purple like the rest of the surface) sticking up from the top. Cut into the hard brown earth is a wide stone staircase: clearly the guild's members get plenty of exercise just coming and going, Maka observes, looking up and _up_ at it.

"Well. Shall we go?"

Soul audibly gulps. "Yeah. Guess so."

But before they can so much as take the first step upwards, there's a deafening blast from the side of the plateau. They both spin around to see chunks of earth and stone flying into the air, along with the distinctive fiery violet of Shadow Balls. Maka can feel the collective shock of the whole town, while seems to stop and gasp as one, all heads turning. The source of all the commotion makes himself known immediately -

"Nice try, you bastards!" The scar-faced Mightyena wheels around the wide corner of the plateau with a raucous, barking laugh. "Next time maybe don't try to Paralyze a guy with Quick Feet, huh?"

He comes right for them in a black and grey blur, and behind them Maka can hear the frightened noises of Pokemon running to hide in their houses. She's frozen for a moment, knowing she has to do _something_ but unable to reach _what._ Soul looks the same, eyes huge with fear. But shakily, he steps forward.

"Maka...Maka, go, he's - !"

The Mightyena spots them, and Maka hadn't believed it possible but he charges even faster. "Outta my way, runts! I got places to be!"

And all at once, Soul's entire demeanor changes. His claws flex out and his hackles raise. "Yeah?! Well, you're going through me first!"

Soul darts forward, right into the Mightyena's path, and Maka recognizes a Feint Attack. The Mightyena is clearly faster, but it skids on its clawed paws for a split second, caught off guard, and Soul's attack slams straight into his broad chest with a great spark of black light. A small sound of surprise and delight escapes Maka; a direct hit, that had to be - !

Fangs glimmer in the bright sunlight for a moment, and then there's a piercing yell of pain.

The Mightyena is _smiling_ through his mouthful of Soul's chest, even as the smaller Pokemon screams and writhes in his teeth. He swings his head back and flings Soul out of his mouth like a toy. "Dark Types like us shouldn't fight each other, brat. You can't do shit to me."

Soul's back hits the plateau so hard the breath is audibly knocked out of him, and he drops to the ground and doesn't move. Before she knows it, Maka is screaming -

" _SOUL!"_

\- and she is _moving._

The world tunnels out around her, and she is barely aware of the power building up all around her body. The Fairy Wind comes almost on its own, this time. The Mightyena apparently thinks its fight unfinished, stalking towards his fallen opponent with a smile that bleeds, and that smile only widens as he turns to the next small Pokemon to rush him. He starts to run again, meeting her charge, and she sees his head lower, his paws glow, building up for what she assumes will be a vicious Sucker Punch.

Fine. Fine, then! He doesn't scare her!

The shrill battle cry rising from her throat almost stings, but it builds in her chest like white fire, flows in her veins and gives her strength. She rams her body, her power, into the Mightyena with everything she's got, and she knows that such a thing should hurt..But right now she doesn't feel a bit of pain, as they make impact. It's like seeing stars, when they hit, black and violet and silver. For an instant she can't see at all, swept away in a rush of heat and rage and desire to sink in claws and _kill -_

She's snapped out of it almost as soon as she registers what she's feeling. It's _his_ body that gives, that's thrown by the explosion of clashing powers up and away, landing headfirst into a nearby tree. He drops to the ground, knocked out cold, and melting snow falls from the branches on top of him.

Maka breathes out, her body still tingling. Every hair of down on her body is standing on end. She lands gently, surprised to feel her feet touching the ground again; she can't remember ever taking to the air. In an instant, though, she is moving, running to the fallen Sneasel still lying face down.

"Soul!"

She takes him by the shoulders and turns him over. He's still conscious, she thinks: his eyes are squeezed shut with pain, but he's breathing, albeit probably too fast to be healthy. He's bleeding too much, from both the torso and the back, for her to tell how deep the tooth marks actually are. It sticks in his fur, runs off him and falls in fat drops into into the dirt and slush. It terrifies her, but somehow, she doesn't panic: she has a feeling she's seen worse even if she can't consciously remember it.

 _Cover the wounds, pressure stops the bleeding_ is warring with _scream for help_ in her head, and her body moves again without her really thinking about it. She presses her tiny arms down where she thinks the worst of the bleeding is, brushing dirt away from the wounds, and lifts her head to call for somebody. But before she can make a sound, there's the clatter of many different feet coming from the same place the Mightyena had.

"Get back here, you pucker-faced asshole! You can't keep _me_ down!"

"Black Star! You don't even know which way he we - _Oh,_ my goodness!"

A Lucario and a Bayleef skid to a stop in front of them. Both are dirty and beaten up, the Bayleef bruised like a dropped peach and the Lucario's chest horn chipped, its paws dripping minutely with blood. For one beat, they and Maka look at each other in shock, then the Bayleef pushes forward.

"You'd better come with us!"

~0~

"So...Is he going to be okay?" Maka asks, not at all liking how timid she sounds. The guild's infirmary is small, and the smell of healing sprays has never agreed with her.

Nygus finishes wrapping Soul's chest in the medicated bandages, then turns to answer her. "Yes, he'll be fine. A little bit of rest is all he needs now."

Maka, by contrast, had only been given an ice pack to hold on the bump on her head. So minor, she barely feels it. "Are you sure?" she can't help but press.

Froslass' expressions are hard to read by nature, but she feels fairly certain that the equivalent of what Nygus' face is doing is a reassuring smile. "Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry about him, you did great getting him to me so quickly. In fact - yep, there we go, he's waking up now."

Maka does not like the yelp that escapes her at that, either. She leans over in the small plastic chair to better see Soul, who looks smaller than usual, lying on his back on the paper-laden examination table. His eyes flutter open halfway, and there's still a glazed look to them but he manages to focus on her face fairly quickly.

"H...Hey." His voice is faint but loud and clear enough to hear from where she is; she guesses that must be a good sign. "She...She's right. Mmm fine. Don' even feel it."

"That's because you're still a little loopy from the pain medication I gave you. But, you're not quite wrong."

Maka only feels a little bit comforted. They've made it into the guild, technically, but she still feels as uncertain as she did when they left. She wonders if this is really the best time to make their case, but she reasons that she might as well. "So...After Soul's back on his feet, I was...Well, _we_ were wondering...What we could do, now that we're here."

But before Nygus can answer, the infirmary door was blown open and fell to the floor with a mighty crash.

Maka lets out a cry of surprise louder than she'd intended, and Soul jumps three feet off the table. Nygus, however, is entirely unfazed. "Morning, Guildmaster. Eventful day, hm?"

The hugest Gengar Maka has ever seen lets out a great booming laugh. Maka recognizes the particularly long ears and the white stripes marking the face to realize that this must be the famous Shinigami. "So I've heard! I must say, you two kids were very brave! That was a much more dangerous prisoner than we thought, I do apologize that you ended up having to deal with him instead of our members."

"'S cool," Soul mutters, looking everywhere but at the guildmaster's eyes.

Maka would disagree. "He's a criminal? What was he here for?"

Shinigami looks puzzled at the question. "It was my understanding that the entire town knew by now! A member of our guild was...defeated by intruders last night, and passed away of his injuries. That Mightyena, one Ragnarok by name, was the perpetrator."

He looks about to say more, but Soul breaks in to explain, "We just came into town, haven't been here long enough to hear anything. I'm from the other side of the region, and Maka's...Sh-She's a, a what-do-you-call-it, amnesiac. Doesn't know where she came from. Or who she is. Or...Anything, really."

Now both older Pokemon are looking at her with deep concern. Nygus asks, "Maka, you didn't have any other head injuries before your fight with Ragnarok, did you?"

"N-No, I don't think so. I just woke up on the mountain last night, and I don't remember anything before that. I didn't know where I was, I...I didn't even recognize my own body." Technically that part is true. The next part makes her perk up. "I don't even know whether I'd have made it through the night if not for Soul!"

She glances over at Soul, and his feathers are twitching like mad in embarrassment. He starts to mutter something, but she cuts him off before he can downplay himself.

"He found me lying flat on my face in the middle of the blizzard, and he carried me home on his back and made sure I was okay. And in the morning, he took me into town so we could get to the Guild, and he attacked Ragnarok first, to protect me!"

 _Wow, look at those feathers go._

Shinigami looks surprised, but pleased. "Soul, is this true? That's quite a noble thing to do."

Soul is looking straight down at the floor. "I...It sounds cooler when she says it. And she's the one who actually beat the guy..."

"Well, you both performed just as admirably as any of our exploration teams!"

"Actually, sir!" Maka jumps in. "That's why we both came: we'd like to join your Guild! I...I don't remember how to use my moveset or abilities or anything else, and Soul and I thought training under you might help me find some answers somehow. And both of us want to get stronger."

The Gengar practically bounces with delight at her words. " _Well,_ then! I'm sure we'd all be happy to welcome a couple more hands on deck, especially ones who have proven themselves so early on! And so helpful of you to come in a set of two; would you be open to becoming an official exploration team?"

A grin lights up Maka's face. "Yes, of course!

Even Soul is smiling. "Sounds cool."

"It's settled then! Sid will put your names in the registrar just as soon as I speak with the staff. You two will stay here tonight, and in the morning, we'll put you to work!"


	3. Chapter 3

The very lowest depths of Shibusen's basement levels carry the wet, rotten scents of dirty stone, must and mold, and aged blood and rust. It had burned Ragnarok's nose like a hot needle when he had first been dragged down here and stuffed in a cell, and the feeling hasn't let up since.

He had spent his first stay in this place standing on his four paws, pacing the cell, waiting for the right time to strike to break out and evade his guards. Runty little trainees had taken over the shift briefly from their elders, and were easily blasted through the wall. Now...Now they were taking some more precautions. His second stay had begun with him waking up dazed enough to see double for a minute, with thick iron manacles around his ankles and chains without a bit of slack attached to them, holding him to the wall. He had tried to get back on his feet...Panting, a thin line of slaver sliding over his lips, he tries to get up again -

It's like being struck by lightning - no, the whole damn thunderstorm. Completely against his will, he throws his head back and lets out a shrill, shrieking howl that doesn't even sound like him. His legs spasm uncontrollably, claws scraping at the scum-coated floor.

"I believe I asked you a question."

Even knocked flat on the ground, the burning pain of electricity still running over his skin, Ragnarok finds he still has the strength to growl low in his throat at his interrogator. Fucking Zap Cannon. He can't take too many more of those...

"I'll ask it again." He's pretty damn sure that if he could, Franken Stein would be giving him that scariest smile of all time. Well...Second scariest, he amends, thinking of his mother. "And bear in mind that, 'Go to hell,' is not an acceptable answer. Who sent you to the Kishin Seal?"

"No one," Ragnarok growls. The image of his little sibling beating a terrified retreat into the woods, after their fight had attracted too much attention too fast, flashes into his mind. He hopes they don't have a Psychic-type on hand that could go digging that image out of him. "No one. I went by myself. I fucking _told_ you that already."

"I find that answer lacking. There are very few who know of the Kishin Seals' existence, and I highly doubt that someone like you found out on your own. But we can move on from it, if you like. You killed the guardian, but you failed to break the Third Seal. Why would you seek to break it in the first place?"

Ragnarok's gums had started bleeding at the first Zap Cannon strike, and he's glad of it now. The running blood makes it look even freakier when he bares his teeth at Stein, though he suspects the Magnezone is nowhere near as intimidated by it as the average Pokemon would be.

"Why not? Maybe I just did it for a fucking laugh - "

Before he's even gotten all the words out, he's screaming again. His vision goes burning white, and he feels sure he's about to fall apart under the endless lightning.

"Mockery will not be appreciated either. Now, let's try this once more..."

~0~

"It's smaller than I thought it'd be," had been Soul's murmured first remark on the room they'd been given, after the cheerful Emolga who had introduced herself as Marie led them both here and told them to make themselves at home.

"Yeah, but it looks cozy," Maka had replied. She'd been fascinated by it; she didn't remember anything of what her old home had looked like, if she'd had one, but she got the strong sense that this was entirely different from a human dwelling. Soft nests instead of mattresses and beds, faintly glowing torches on the walls instead of lamps, and no chairs or desks or anything of the sort. The only decoration right now is a mirror laid against the wall. The walls and floor are earth and stone, and there are flowers on vines strung around the edges of the ceiling - snapdragon, she thinks that they're called.

There is one window, between the nests they'd both immediately fallen asleep in, with no shades or curtains. The light is just starting to stream through them, to touch their eyes, when Marie glides up to their curtain-covered doorway and, when they don't respond to her initially gentle call to awaken, sends a Thunder Shock into each nest.

It's not a _huge_ blow, all things considered. But it's enough to make both Soul and Maka simultaneously shriek and launch three feet straight up into the air.

"Excellent, you're both awake!" says Marie with a smile. "We like to all be up and at 'em early around here. Breakfast is served out in the main hall, so when you're ready you can go out and get acquainted with your new guild mates while you eat. After that, Shinigami and Sid will give you your first assignment as a team!"

Soul still looks like he's lost in space, so Maka answers, "Thanks, ma'am! We'll be out in just a minute!"

Sparks flew from Marie's cheeks: an Electric-type blush. "Marie will do just fine, hon. See you in a bit!"

The curtain flaps closed as she leaves, and Soul back-flops back down on his nest, absently smoothing down his mussed fur. "Forgot that might happen. Way to warn a guy, though."

"I thought of trying to bargain for five more minutes, but I doubt that would have worked," Maka admits.

"Well, never mind then. Let's hurry it up; the food goes fast, and we need to be sharp for our first mission. If we're lucky, we get to keep some stuff we find when we go exploring someplace. Might brighten up the room a bit."

Maka looks at him curiously. "Where did you hear that?"

"Uh...Guy back home." Soul strokes his head feather self-consciously, fixing the rumpled places. "Cool guy. Really cool. Mentioned some things about Shibusen a few times."

"Maybe you could tell me more about him sometime."

The feather twitches. "Maybe."

All right, time to change the subject. "Do I look all right?" Maka asks, scrutinizing herself in the mirror. She adds in a hushed voice, "What are Togetic supposed to look like? Grooming-wise, I mean?"

Soul shrugs. "Hell if I know."

Maka sighs, "Guess we'll see, then. Ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Soul says, absently rubbing his claws on his bandaged torso in an attempt at shining them. "Let's go meet the crew."

~0~

The two of them walked out of their room just a little closer to each other than usual. For those few moments when they're still alone, and not for the first time since she'd arrived in this world, Maka's mind is racing. She's barely met any other Pokemon, she only knows Soul, how is she supposed to introduce herself to the whole Guild? She hadn't been this leery of new people when she was human, had she?

But, when they step into the main room, with the kitchen door and long wooden cafeteria table in one wide corner, it turns out that she doesn't have to do it herself.

" _Hey!"_ The Lucario shouts just as loud and bounds across the room just as fast as yesterday. "Look who's up!"

Yet again, he skids to a stop, mere inches from Soul and Maka, who had stopped in their tracks in surprise. "H-Hey," Soul tries, probably a lot softer than he'd like.

"The name's Black Star!" the Lucario announces, dynamically pointing to himself. "I'm going to be an explorer greater than the gods! I already know Maka's name, but what about you, Feathers?"

"Uh...I'm Soul. I'm...thinking we'll be pretty good explorers?" Soul offers, looking as though he's considering backpedaling. But Black Star just laughs, and offers him a fuzzy, spiked fist to bump.

"How about _awesome_ ones?! I didn't see too much of yesterday, but you two were cool as hell!"

Ah, the magic words. Soul's face lights up with a devilish grin, and he bumps Black Star's fist like he's done it a thousand times. "Sorry I missed you back there. Can't wait to see what you've got, Legendary Explorer."

By now, half the table is coming over to investigate the new team, and within moments Maka finds herself and Soul smack in the middle of a large, loud, welcoming circle. Everyone is all smiles and questions, and though she's happy to be greeted so enthusiastically, it's a bit of a balancing act keeping up with some of the questions.

"You're a Fairy-type, correct, Maka?" is the studious-looking Duskull's opening at conversation. He's flanked by a Zoruark and Zorua, and all three of them are looking at her like a curiosity.

"I-I am, but I don't know too many Fairy-type moves yet."

"Yes, Father informed us about your amnesia problem," the Duskull says, and Maka suddenly realizes why his gold eye and white stripes had looked so familiar. "Don't worry; though your case seems unusual, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it somehow."

"If you need help with your training, I'm sure _I_ can provide some quality tutoring!" shouts a Mr. Mime at the edge of the group. The Manectric next to him, that she assumes to be Harvar, looks unsure of that, but gives Maka a reassuring nod anyway.

The Spritzee trying to get a better look at Soul, from over the heads of the Hitmonchan, Ponyta, and Blitzle now talking to him, starts at that. "Ox, don't you be a pain to the new girl, you hear me?!" Over Ox's spluttering and Harvar's snickering, she continues, "I'm Kim, by the way, and the Lampent over there is Jackie, my partner. If anyone gives you any trouble, you come get us and we'll sort them out, okay?"

Maka smiles, much less shakily this time. "Okay! Thanks!"

Just then, she feels something tickling at her hip as she hovers, and looks down to see the Zorua, held in the Zoruark's paws, patting at her with the biggest, friendliest smile she's ever seen. "Your wings are so pretty!" she exclaims. "I love Pokemon that can float! I wish I could. The closest I get is when Liz throws me at somebody so I can Fury Swipe them!"

Maka blinks. "Uh...That's an interesting strategy."

The Zoruark laughs. "Call it whatever you like, if it works, it works. I'm Liz, this is my sister Patty, and that Duskull who _will survive if your patterns aren't quite symmetrical - "_ she growls that part at Duskull, who cringes and moves away from Maka - "is our partner Death the Kid. Or just Kid, if that's a mouthful. We've been here a while, and we didn't have much of a home before we got settled in with the Guild, so we know how you feel. Don't worry, you'll fit in just fine."

"And speaking of mouthfuls..." Black Star's Bayleef partner noses her way into the circle, and presses something round and squishy into Maka's hands. "My name's Tsubaki, and it was my turn to cook breakfast today. I always bake some treats for new members, but I didn't know which kinds of Poffin you and Soul like, so I just made a lot!"

Maka tentatively bites into a red one, and, finding it delicious, immediately scarfs the whole thing. "Spicy! I love it!"

Tsubaki blushes a deep forest green. "Thank you!" She raises her voice to address the whole group: "Breakfast is going to get cold, let's finish before we have to leave for the day! We can't let our new team go out on empty stomachs!"

"Right!" is the general consensus, and in their still-chattering group, they all return to the table. Tsubaki's advice turns out to be very timely: no sooner have they all swallowed their last gulps of food than Shinigami is bursting into the room.

"Hello, hello! Everyone line up!"

"Just follow our lead," Tsubaki whispers to Soul and Maka, as they file over and stand in a group in front of Shinigami and the large board with various flyers and lists pinned to it. "We'll show you the best missions to take, for your experience levels."

"Am I meeting everyone in good health today?" Shinigami asks, and all the teams answer in unison.

"Yes, sir!"

"Have we all been giving our newest team a warm welcome?"

Soul and Maka's "Yes, sir!" are louder than all the rest, and Shinigami laughs.

"Excellent! Now, morning announcements are brief today: in addition to wishing you all safe and happy hunting, I must ask that you patrol the town and surrounding areas with even more vigilance than usual. Stein informs us that our guest from yesterday is highly likely to have had accomplices, so it's your job to keep your eyes peeled and inform me or any senior exploration team of anything suspicious. Understand!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Very good! Now - "

But before the Gengar can say anything more, there's a loud series of metallic noises from the front entrance, and they all turn to see a Magnezone floating in, with Marie sitting attentively on his head.

"Stein, good morning! What's the news?"

Stein seems far less enthused about it than Shinigami. "I need two teams to send to Arrowhead Forest right away. I've received several reports of Pokemon acting hostile and irrational, and there could be connections to yesterday's crimes."

"Right then! Let's see here...Kid! You and Liz and Patty take Soul and Maka out to the forest with you! Show them the ropes!"

Duskull don't technically blink, but whatever Kid does must be the equivalent, Maka decides. "Um, Father...Did you really think about that? I mean no offense to either of you, but this seems a little advanced for - "

"Nonsense!" Shinigami waves a hand around to emphasize the point. "Why wiggle your toes in the water when you can dive straight in? With two teams they'll be perfectly safe!"

"We'll be fine, sir!" Maka pipes up impulsively. "You can count on us!"

"Yeah!" Soul adds.

Shinigami claps his hands together. "Then it's settled!"

Stein appraises them for a moment, then inclines his body, finding them satisfactory. "You look eager enough. Hurry up, then - your first mission as an exploration team begins now."

~0~

The exhaustion of last night's mad dash for freedom had mostly passed, after a night of fitful sleep curled up in a makeshift den under an overhang. Even so, Crona still had hours of walking ahead of them until they reached home, and every minute of it is spent in heart-thumping terror of what awaited them there.

That and a fervent desire for a rendezvous point perhaps halfway there, but still. Complaints and doubts...They're useless. Since when have their feelings ever made a difference in what happens?

But, for once, they almost get their wish. They are barely a mile away from their home under the mountain, when a rustling in the brush around them makes them freeze in their tracks. The voice that comes out of the shadows with it nearly stops their heart.

"Crona..."

They don't need to turn around. They can hear their mother so close to them, her powerful body sliding through the slushy grass. "Y-Yes, Lady Medusa. I'm back."

"Welcome home." Is she circling? She's moving around them somehow, but it's too dark around here to see. "But, you come without your brother? And with the world no different for another Kishin Seal being broken...?"

Crona gulps audibly. The whole trip they'd spent trying to figure out how to report their failure, and even now they can barely get the words out of their mouth. "I-I...We...killed the guardian. L-Like you said. It, it was easy."

Silence: their cue to tell the _whole_ truth.

"But...B-But...Before we could break the Seal, Pokemon from the Guild found us. An Emolga and a, a Magnezone. I tried to break the Seal while Ragnarok fought them off, b-but I couldn't...I tried, ma'am, I, I _promise_ I tried!"

"Hm. Did your brother survive?" She almost sounds disinterested.

"I-I think so. They...I ran away, but I s-saw them, dragging him away from the chamber. If, if they were going to kill him, wouldn't they have just done it?"

"Yes, that's what you do with a defeated enemy. One you don't need, at least...I expect they took him back to squeeze information out of him before they decide what more to do with him."

The rustling gets closer. They can _feel_ their mother's eyes on their back, and every muscle in their body tenses, waiting for a fang or a blade to flash out and slice them. She's definitely circling, now...

Never in their life has it done any good to apologize. But, every inch of them trembling with terror, Crona can't help it. "I...I'm sorry, ma'am! I'm sorry for both of us!"

"Hush."

Golden eyes glow in the shadows before them, and they jump when they realize their mother is suddenly right in front of them, her body not yet squeezing but coiled around them, trapping them in the middle, all the same. They haven't met too many other serpentine Pokemon, but they know in their heart that Seviper like their mother must be the strongest of them. Or cruelest. Isn't it all the same, in the end?

Medusa's head rears up in front of them, tongue sliding in and out to taste Crona's fear on the air. She's practically smiling, which means there will be no punishment now, but the sight of it makes Crona want to run and hide anyway.

"Are you afraid, my child? Don't be. You and Ragnarok may have failed in your task, but I do believe we can make this work to our advantage."

"You...You do?"

"Oh, yes. But rest assured, Crona, that I will not let such a thing go unpunished again," she adds, curling tighter around them, raising her tail blade to lay to their throat.

"Y...Y-Yes, ma'am," Crona chokes out.

"Steel yourself for the tasks ahead, Crona. The Guild will not stop us. We _will_ revive the Kishin."


End file.
